SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Past fireworks displays at Mount Rushmore National Memorial are the likely source of a pollutant found in water within the site in western South Dakota, according to a government report released Monday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — An elephant carrying a performer holding an American flag kicked off the final elephant performance at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on Sunday, as the show closes its own chapter on a practice that has entertained audiences in America for two centuries but has come under fire by animal rights activists.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Survivors of Indonesia’s anti-communist massacres in 1965 submitted a list of what they say are more than 100 mass graves to the government on Monday after the president called for an investigation into the killings.

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — The future of Asia’s largest, most-awaited film festival is in question as South Korean filmmakers threaten to boycott the red carpet over what they view as government interference.

DETMOLD, Germany — A 94-year-old former SS sergeant admitted in court Friday that he had served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, apologizing to Nazi Holocaust survivors looking on in a German courtroom that even though he was aware Jews were being gassed and their corpses burned, he did nothing to try to stop it.

CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government has blocked a Chinese-led consortium from buying the nation’s largest private land holding, a collection of Outback cattle ranches, for 371 million Australian dollars ($284 million).

NEW YORK — An ancient stone sculpture of Buddha’s footprints that was smuggled into the United States and had been expected to sell for more than $1 million was returned to the government of Pakistan on Wednesday.